Art as an Oasis™ Series

Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

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Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12

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You unlock this door with the key of imagination.
Beyond it is another dimension:
a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. 

Rod Serling
The Twilight Zone: Complete Stories



There are flowers everywhere for people who want to see them.

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often attributed to 
Honoré Balzac 
as a translation of words he wrote in French

Does not this comprehend all, in fact?  .... A little garden in which to walk, and immensity in which to dream. At one's feet that which can be cultivated and plucked; over head that which one can study and meditate upon: some flowers on earth, and all the stars in the sky.

Victor Hugo
Les Misérables
trans. 1887 –– Isabel F. Hapgood

 

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Artist’s Statement

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The yellow rose and its companion bud are from life, and I see their beauty and intense color as the painting's focal point. The background is from my imagination, but many viewers think it representational. Of course, what one viewer "sees" as the reality being represented often differs substantially from the reality "seen" by another. 

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– CCSK
 

Homage to Cambria
Oil on Canvas
16 in x 16 in
2018

A Sign of Friendship
Oil on Canvas
15 in x 24 in
2018

Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

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Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12

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Do you think it’s unkind to suppose
That the desert’s no home for a rose.
Guess I’ll always wish I could know
Things you never told me

Kimmie Rhodes – Windblown
music played in the opening scene
of the movie, The Yellow Rose

Well, the yellow rose of Texas is the only gal I love.
Her eyes are even bluer than Texas skies above.
Her heart’s as big as Texas and wherever I may go,
I’ll remember her forever because I love her so.

The Yellow Rose of Texas
in the version recorded by Elvis Presley

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Artist’s Statement

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Despite the lyrics quoted above, in the language of flowers yellow roses symbolize friendship – hence the title of this work.  By happenstance, yellow roses were my mother’s favorite flower and are the favorite of one of my Israeli nieces.
(My favorite flower is the red rose [love], when presented to me

by my husband.)

– CCSK

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Poppies in the Field
Oil on Canvas
17.5 in x 17.5 in
2018

Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

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Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12

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Never be afraid to be a poppy in a field of daffodils.

Michaela Mabinty DePrince
Sierra Leonean-American ballet dancer.

Life has always poppies in her hands. Of course, now and then
things linger. I once wore nothing but violets all through one
season….

Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below

John McCrae, In Flanders Fields
poem written to memorialize the death of a friend
during the second battle of Ypres (World War I)
[first stanza]

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Artist’s Statement

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I remember first hearing the word “poppies” as part of a sleeping spell
cast by the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz
“Poppies … poppies  -- poppies will put them to sleep.”

  The poppies in this painting have a much happier frame of reference. 
I found them growing among the weeds in a field in Israel.  The field,
which had once defensive structures for the military, was soon to
become a vineyard.

The poppy has a color so vibrant as to stand out wherever the flower
appears.  I hope that this painting depicts that vibrancy.

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– CCSK

Blushing Roses
Oil on Belgian Linen
24 in x 36 in
2018

Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us, or we find it not.

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays, First Series, ch.12
 

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O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.

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Robert Burns
A Red, Red Rose
 

What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

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William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet
Act I, Scene II

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The Little Prince
speaking to a group of roses

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You are beautiful … [and] to be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you — the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.

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Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Little Prince 

Artist’s Statement

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My mother’s favorite flower was a yellow rose.  Red is by far my favorite,
although I’ve never met a rose I didn’t like.
For example, I think the roses depicted above are beautiful, though they are neither red nor yellow nor even monochrome.  The interplay of pink and white in the petals gives the impression of a blush – hence the name.  The long stems provide color contrast – color that is darker, less variegated, and less pronounced.

 – CCSK

Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

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The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.

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William Blake
Songs of Innocence and of Experience

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[W]hy are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

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Mathew 6:28-29
(American Standard Version)

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Stars open among the lilies.
Are you not blinded by such expressionless sirens?
This is the silence of astounded souls.

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Sylvia Plath
Crossing the Water

Artist’s Statement

The Stargazer lily is a hybrid, created so that the petals look to the sky rather than curve downward.  Various colors exist, some quite exuberant. These Stargazers are primarily white, which allows the front-facing flower to provide the perfect backdrop for an intricate and elegant pattern in purple.

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– CCSK

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Stargazers
Oil on Canvas
40 in x 30 in
2018

Purple Crocuses
Oil on Canvas
36 in x 24 in
2018

Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

as vaccines make travel foreseeable again 
souvenirs from past travels

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If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,

our whole life would change. 

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often misattributed to Buddha
Jack Kornfield
Buddha’s Little Instruction Book

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A single crocus blossom ought to be enough to convince our heart
that springtime, no matter how predictable, is somehow a gift,
gratuitous, gratis, a grace. 

David Steindl-Rast
Benedictine Monk

You might think that after thousands of years of coming up too soon
and getting frozen, the crocus family would have had 
a little sense knocked into it.

Robert Benchley
American Comedian

I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple
in a field somewhere and don't notice it.

― Alice Walker, The Color Purple

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​Artist’s Statement

Purple – for some time in Ancient Rome, reserved to the Emperor.
Purple – given an entirely different meaning by Jimmi Hendrix in
“Purple Haze” and yet another by Prince in “Purple Rain.” 
In my painting, the greenery has the greater height,
but the purple crocuses draw the eye.
They are the focus.

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– CCSK

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Penzance Bouquet
Oil on Canvas

30 in x 24 in
2018

Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

as vaccines make travel foreseeable again 
souvenirs from past travels

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If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,

our whole life would change. 

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often misattributed to Buddha
Jack Kornfield
Buddha’s Little Instruction Book

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We've got to learn how to not look at creed or color. Look at how
beautiful a bouquet of roses looks like - different color roses, all
look beautiful. We have to learn how to let our beauty of the
color of our roses shine to the world.

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Charles Bradley
American singer
“The Screaming Eagle of Soul”

It's better to get a rosebud while you're alive 
than a whole bouquet after you're dead.

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John Franklin “Home Run” Baker 
professional baseball player 
who hit a career high 12 home runs in 1913

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Artist’s Statement

Penzance is a port town on the southern side of the English

county of Cornwall, about three miles north of the town of Mousehole. Penzance was once known for its pirates, and many parts of Cornwall have a hardscrabble kind of beauty. This painting reflects another side of Cornwall – the beauty of its flowers.

– CCSK

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Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

as vaccines make travel foreseeable again 
souvenirs from past travels

​

If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly,

our whole life would change. 

​

often misattributed to Buddha
Jack Kornfield
Buddha’s Little Instruction Book

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A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone.

It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose.

It doesn’t have to. It is different.

And there’s room in the garden for every flower.

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Marianne Williamson 
contemporary author

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Tip toe through the window

By the window, that is where I'll be

Come tip toe through the tulips with me

Tip toe from the garden

By the garden of a willow tree

And tip toe through the tulips with me

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Al Dubin  & Joseph A Burke 
song writers 
popularized in the late ‘60s by the comedian, Tiny Tim

 

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Artist's Statement

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I traveled to the south of England, visiting a few castles and manors scattered about. In one manor in Cornwall I walked into an elegantly decorated and furnished dining room. On the highly polished table stood a tall vase of orange, red and yellow tulips. I loved the light and shadow play from the window, reflected onto the table. This was a lovely quiet moment that I tried to capture in oil.

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– CCSK

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Tulips in Cornwall
Oil on Belgian Linen

23.5 in x 22.5 in
2018

Art as an Oasis™
from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

as vaccines make travel foreseeable again 
souvenirs from past travels

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I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky;

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by….

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John Masefield 
Sea Fever

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Hark now, hear the sailors cry

Smell the sea and feel the sky

Let your soul and spirit fly

Into the mystic.

Van Morrison 
Into the Mystic

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Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought

 of which the sea would not be part.

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Steven Tyler

lead singer of Aerosmith


 

Artist's Statement

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We were on a large sailing boat in Annapolis. It was a large group of people, maybe 15, on this boat.  I looked up at the giant mast feeling small and vulnerable. There were many signal flags and international marine flags on the main mast.  Not all were recognizable, so I put in the US, Israeli, British, Italian and Brazilian along with several signal flags.  We sailed out on the Atlantic, tho never far from harbor, at a frightening clip.  It was exhilarating and beyond scary when the ship would lean and water would spray on us and the inside of the boat.  So much more intense than sailing small sailboats and sunfish boats in college at Univ- Madison.  Thought a lot about my dad who was in the navy in WWII.  He walked like a sailor all his life.  (I never had "my sea legs" quite like my dad)

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– CCSK

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Sea Flags in Annapolis
Oil on Canvas

36 in x 18 in
2018

Three Mushrooms on Golden Pond
Oil on Canvas
15 in x 27 in
2014

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Art as an Oasis™

from the gallery of Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 
as vaccines make travel foreseeable again 
souvenirs from past travels 

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Artist's Statement 
 

Passover begins in two days, on the evening of March 27, 2021. The holiday marks the beginning of a people's travel that lasted 40 years. Of the many messages intwined in the Exodus story, one teaches of our human obligation to take care of  "the other" – the stranger, the different. The Jewish people live because the baby Moses survived. The baby survived because of an Egyptian princess – Batyah – rescued, protected him and raised him – all in defiance of her father's orders that all first-born Jewish males be slain. She was perhaps the first "righteous Gentile" -- a term of honor given to non-Jews who have risked their lives to protect Jews from persecution and even annihilation. But Batyah's message is also universal, reminding all of us of our obligation, especially now, to protect and comfort anyone who faces bigotry – regardless of his or her politics or ours. 

– CCSK

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And you shall not mistreat a stranger, nor shall you oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 20:20


No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me, 
because I am involved in mankind. 
And therefore never send to know for whom 
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. 
John Donne
MEDITATION XVII
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
 

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"Egyptian Princess"

Oil on Canvas

28"  x 22"

2013

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Middle Eastern Market
Oil on Canvas
24" x 19"
2012

"Together in a Mudbath"

Oil on Linen

36 in x 36 in

2015

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"China in a Box"

Oil on Canvas

19 in x 25 in

2017

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"Thai Lions"

Oil on Canvas

16 in x 16 in

2017

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Art as an Oasis™

from the gallery of

Carolyn C.S. Kleinberger 

as vaccines make travel foreseeable again 

~ souvenirs from past travels ~ 

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I think you travel to search and you come back home to find yourself there. 
– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Until the lion tells his side of the story,
the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. 
Zimbabwean Proverb


The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions

of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion.
A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom. 
Osho, Courage: The Joy of Living Dangerously


Only in art will the lion lie down with the lamb,

and the rose grow without thorn. 
Martin Amis
 

artist statement

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In actuality, this lion is fewer than eight inches tall – it decorates one end of a wooden mantelpiece in a restaurant located in a very old house in Annapolis, Maryland. But in my imagination, and I hope in this painting, the lion is solitary, powerful, and even frightening.

– CCSK

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"Annapolis Lion"

Oil on Canvas

16.5" x 13.25"

2016

"Globes of Light"

Oil on Canvas

38.5 x 28 in

2013

Private Collection

Reproductions Available

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Art as an Oasis™
a series of occasional postings from

the art of Carrie Kleinberger
providing a temporary respite from both

mundane and monumental cares
words of wisdom from a diversity of others
 
for a season ordinarily full of celebrations and gatherings around food:

~ a collection of simple comestibles and potables ~ 
(this week – fruit with style)
 

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Everyone knew you shouldn't go biting into fruit offered to you by magical creatures in the woods, even if you'd thought until just five minutes ago that such stories were, you know, only stories. 
– Molly Ringle, The Goblins of Bellwater
 

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The old order changeth, yielding place to new,

And God fulfills Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.

– Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur

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You are the sunshine of my life, That's

why I'll always be around,

You are the apple of my eye, Forever

you'll stay in my heart.

– Stevie Wonder, You Are The Sunshine of My Life

For some stories, it's easy. The moral of

 'The Three Bears,' for instance is "Never break into someone else's house."  The moral of 'Snow White' is "Never eat apples."  The moral of World War I is

"Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand."

– Daniel Handler

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artist statement

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At the Jewish new year (in the fall), Jews

customarily share apples and honey to

offer and share hopes for a sweet new year.

This painting depicts a plate of apples

prepared for that purpose and shows

contrasting colors, shapes, and textures. Perhaps paradoxically, the center of the painting

is not an apple but rather a half grape atop an apple slice. The Jewish new year is already three months past, but nothing prevents us from offering apples, honey, and hopes of sweetness for the secular new year as well. 

Best Wishes For A Happy Healthy New Year!!

– CCSK

"Apples For The New Year"

Oil on Linen

8 x 8 in

2019

"In a Parisian Market"

Oil on Canvas

15.5" x 27.5"

2008

"Curious Cat in a Carpet Shop"

Oil on Canvas

25.5" x 33.5"

2013